Posts Tagged ‘1986 Corvette Indy Pace car’

My intention was not only to use as much of the 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car suspension as possible in my hot rod design, but also to include as many of other parts as possible. The engine seemed start and run okay with good oil pressure and temperature readings when I purchased the car. I could not take the smashed Corvette for a run because the car was hit very badly in the back end. The impact was so intense that the rear drivers’ side half shaft was sheared inside the rear knuckle. Even the rear tie rod mounts were broken along with a bent spindle support rod on the drivers’ side.

1986 Corvette engine as taken out of the Indy Pace car convertible - the plan is to use this in the 1929 Ford Roadster hot rod.

To keep thing simple for my first hot rod project of, I felt that the Corvettes TPI injection system would be too complicated to hook up and take too much time to get working properly. I removed TPI injection system was removed from the Corvette engine. This is when I noticed that things are not looking too good in the engine department. The inside of the engine, underneath the intake manifold looked like a coal mine. Lots of carbonized chucks of oil. I wonder why anyone would let this happen. Changing the oil and filter is so important to the life of an engine. I realized at this point it would be a good idea to rebuild the engine. For now I was just interested in placing the engine and transmission into the chassis.

1986 Corvette engine with the intake manifold removed - what a mess - not many oil changes happened for this engine. The oil carbonized into very hard chunks. This engine will need a rebuild. For now, it will be used to figure out the engine and transmission placement in the 1929 Ford Roadster hot rod.

With the Corvette TPI intake off, the engine, I quickly disassembled it and bead blasted it clean. I do not like keeping too many parts in the shop that I have no use for. My shop is just too small for that and I do not want to become a keeper of stuff like some car builders. The TPI injection system was to be listed on eBay. It cleaned up very nicely and it looked terrific re-assembled. When I dismantled the wrecked 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car, I kept the entire engine wiring harness included the ECM. I took several pictures of the intake with wiring harness and listed it on eBay for one week. At the end of the week I was $500 richer. Not bad for a few hours of work.

1986 Corvette TPI injection manifold - view #1 - This was bead blasted and sold on eBay. The picture is not very good, because the old film camera I had was starting to give me problems. It was shortly after this, that I purchased our first digital camera.

1986 Corvette TPI distributor & intake parts - This all as included on the eBay listing with the intake manifold along with the complete engine wiring harness and ECM.

Instead of using the Corvettes TPI system, I opted for a carbureted system. At a swap meet, I found a Holley Street Dominator intake. The Edelbrock carburetor came from eBay. I even found a couple of Mallory distributors. One distributor was an optical unit and the other had dual points. For the time being this was placed onto the old and very sad looking Corvette engine.

1986 Corvette TPI injection manifold - view #2 - I found that eBay buyers like to see what they are buying, so I always take walk around pictures of the item, especially if I want to make a larger sum of money from the item.

1986 Corvette TPI injection manifold - view #3 - I alway like to clean everything I sell on eBay. Even a bit of paint when required make a big difference in what somebody is willing to pay for an item.

1986 Corvette TPI injection manifold - view #4 - Adding lots of pictures to an eBay listing is well worth the effort. At the time, there were several other sellers selling something similar but only had one picture of the item. I sold my for over twice the price they received.

Now it came time to figure out how to place the engine in the 1929 Ford Roadster hot rod chassis.

Come back again next week, and I will continue with my quest of building the 1929 Ford Hot Rod.

The 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car convertible was just about totally dismantled now and it was getting very late in the fall. During one of my rounds cleaning up leaves in the yard, I twisted my back resulting in very serious lower back pain. Having major mobility issues, work in the shop on the hot rod, and removing parts from the 1986 Corvette had come to a screeching halt. With winter and snow not far away, I felt that the stripped out shell of the 1986 Corvette needed to go. There was not much left of the 1986 Corvette convertible. I started advertising in a number of local papers. Maybe somebody would have a use for what was left of this poor old Corvette? I thought I would give this a try before I would have the car hauled away to the dump. About a week passed by and a fellow called asking about it. He had a 1986 Corvette that was hit in the front end. Mine was hit in the back end. This fellow had a plan of cutting the two cars in half and reconnecting the good parts of both cars together. I thought this was a bit excessive but it is a good thing for folks with those kinds of ambitions. If it were not for these very ambitious and skilled enthusiasts, there would not be as many old restored cars or vintage vehicles on the road today. This is truly a labour of love.

1986 corvette leaving 1 - a stripped shell of a 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car convertible. I removed everthing that I needed for my 1929 Ford Roadster project and sold the rest. Not one single part went in the garbage.

We made arrangements for him to see the car and we made a deal. He gave me $600 for what was left. This put a huge smile on my face even with the pain in my lower back. The following week he came to pick up what was left of this poor old 1986 Corvette. I was still having problems with my lower back. The fellow that bought the Corvette was having similar problems with his back. It must have been interesting to watch two old guys with back problems lift the car onto the U-Haul trailer. I was somewhat amazed how light the stripped out shell of the car was. That was a real good thing for us. It was fortunate that this fellow bought his son along to help out. This did make everything slightly easier. The 1986 was now out of the driveway. My wife had the biggest smile of all as she referred to the driveway as a bit of a wrecking yard. I must say, my wife has been a real sport through my adventures with cars. She just shakes her head in amazement that thought that I have been able to make pretty good money at this. The bottom line is that anybody getting into this hobby had better have the support of their partner, otherwise there will be problems, and life is too short for problems.

1986 corvette leaving 2 - A fellow bought this for $600. This might look like junk to most people. The person that bought this was intending to bring this back to life. He had a another Corvette that was hit in the front. This one was hit in the back. He wanted to cut the two cars in half and make one good one. Truely a labour of love.

In a few days I will continue with the work on the front suspension for the 1929 Ford Roadster hot rod using the suspension from the wrecked 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car convertible.